The thing struck like a collapsing wall.
A mass of flesh and bone slammed into Li Yuan's position, the impact sending him skidding across the uneven stone. The shard of rock tore free from his grasp, clattering uselessly into the darkness. Pain flared again—fresh, sharp, and immediate.
Claws raked across his side.
Warmth spilled beneath his ribs.
Li Yuan gasped, the breath torn from his lungs as his body struck a jutting slab of stone. His vision swam. The abyss echoed with a low, wet growl, thick with hunger.
He could not see it.
But he could feel it—its weight, its anticipation, the way its killing intent pressed down on him like a physical force. This was no beast from the surface world. Whatever lived here had adapted to darkness, to distorted qi, to endless slaughter.
I miscalculated, he admitted calmly.
His rebuilt body was stable, but weak. Too weak.
The creature advanced slowly now, savoring the moment. Its breath washed over him, rancid and hot. Li Yuan forced his arms to move, fingers scraping uselessly against stone.
Running was impossible.
Fighting was suicide.
For the first time since awakening, a single thought surfaced clearly:
So this is where it ends after all.
The interface flickered violently.
Critical condition detected
Host intent fluctuating
Li Yuan laughed softly, the sound bubbling with blood. "You picked a terrible time to start caring."
The presence behind the system stirred—not urgently, but attentively.
Correction:
This is the precise time I must intervene.
The creature lunged.
Its jaws opened wide, rows of uneven teeth glistening in the faint crimson glow still clinging to the stone. Li Yuan's eyes locked onto the darkness where its head should be.
"Do it," he whispered.
The world seemed to pause.
Not stop—pause, as if reality itself had taken a breath.
System Authority Expanded (Temporary)
Condition: Host survival takes priority
An unfamiliar pressure flooded Li Yuan's chest, heavy and suffocating. It was not qi—not as he knew it—but something denser, more primal.
Desire, rage, resentment, hunger—all of it surged at once, stripped of refinement.
Initiating: Forbidden Sensory Override
Pain vanished.
Not dulled—removed.
Li Yuan's body moved.
His left hand snapped upward, fingers closing around the creature's lower jaw just as it descended. The impact sent a shock through his arm, bones screaming in protest—but they did not break.
The creature recoiled, stunned.
Li Yuan pushed himself upright, feet sliding across slick stone as he stood for the first time since the fall. His legs trembled violently, but they held.
The abyss felt different now.
He could sense it—not with sight, but with awareness. Pulses of distorted qi, movements through the darkness, the dull, animal emotions radiating from the creature before him.
Fear.
The realization surprised him.
"So," Li Yuan murmured, voice steady despite the blood on his lips, "you can feel it too."
He drove his thumb upward.
There was a wet crunch.
The creature shrieked, a sound so sharp it rattled the stone around them. Li Yuan wrenched his arm free as the thing collapsed, thrashing blindly. He staggered back, breathing hard, as sensation rushed back into his body all at once.
Pain returned—fiercer than before.
Li Yuan dropped to one knee, blood pouring from reopened wounds.
The creature twitched once… then went still.
Silence reclaimed the abyss.
Threat neutralized
Li Yuan's chest heaved. His vision blurred, but he forced himself to stay conscious. Whatever had just happened—it was temporary. He could feel it fading, that unnatural clarity slipping away like water through his fingers.
"What was that?" he asked hoarsely.
A violation of standard operational limits, the system replied.
It will not be repeated freely.
"Figures."
He looked down at his hands. They were shaking uncontrollably now, skin torn, fingers slick with dark blood that wasn't entirely his own.
"I'm not strong," he said quietly.
Correct.
"I can't cultivate."
Correct.
"I'm trapped in an abyss filled with things that want to eat me."
Also correct.
Li Yuan let out a breath that was almost a laugh. "You're very reassuring."
Reality does not require reassurance.
Only decisions.
The interface shifted, stabilizing more clearly than before.
Forbidden Cultivation System — Core Functions Unlocked
▸ Desire Conversion (Inactive)
▸ Body Reconstruction (Limited)
▸ Bond Contracts (Locked)
▸ Penalty Framework (Active)
Li Yuan's gaze sharpened.
"Explain," he said.
This system does not grant power freely.
It repurposes what Heaven suppresses.
Desire. Attachment. Obsession. Will.
Images flickered briefly across his mind—faces of elders, Zhao Chen's bowed head, the moment his dantian shattered.
His pulse quickened.
Desire Conversion allows the transformation of intense emotional states into usable energy.
However—
The interface pulsed warning red.
Excess accumulation results in Heart Demons.
Loss of self. Mental collapse. Death.
Li Yuan closed his eyes.
Balance, then. Control.
The system was not a savior. It was a blade—one that would cut him just as easily as his enemies if mishandled.
"When can I cultivate again?" he asked.
When your body can endure it.
Current recommendation: Survival.
Li Yuan looked toward the darkness where the creature had come from. He could sense others now—distant, slow, lurking.
Survival.
He dragged himself toward the corpse, each movement deliberate despite the pain. Whatever lived in this abyss did not waste resources. Neither would he.
"If Heaven forbade this path," he murmured, gripping the creature's rough hide, "then it means it works."
The system did not respond.
But deep beneath the stone, something ancient listened.
And in the endless dark of the Fallen Heaven Abyss, Li Yuan took his first step—not upward, but forward—onto a path that could no longer be erased.